Wrestle Kingdom IV

Legacy Review

Wrestle Kingdom IV

January 4, 2010 from the Tokyo Dome

 

Like last year's Wrestle Kingdom this is being booked like an old school Tokyo Dome show, focused on interpromotional battles. The bulk of it is New Japan vs Pro Wrestling NOAH, but every match outside the opener is a cross-promotional battle of one sort or another.

 

As usual this is from the NJPW World archives, or elsewhere for matches scrubbed from there, so Japanese commentary only.

 

Wataru Inoue, Mitsuhide Hirasawa and Super Strong Machine (Seigigun) def Jushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto and Kazuchika Okada in 4:59-  Liger and Kanemoto have officially hit New Japan Dad status, chaperoning Young Lion Okada here. I believe this is Okada's sendoff match, if not it's close to it, before heading off to his excursion to TNA which will last nearly two years and become infamous. TNA didn't really know what to do with him and New Japan, who (it turned out rightly) saw him as a major prospect, got very upset with that. In the end it completely destroyed the New Japan/TNA working relationship that had been in place since around 2008, fences that were partially mended only recently in the past few years as I write this, and mostly only because both companies were working with AEW at the time. Now, of course, TNA has entered into a full partnership with the Triple H led and now open for business WWE. I'd love for New Japan to dump AEW and follow suit. On the other side, Seigigun, AKA Blue Justice in its rough English translation, was a stable formed by leader Yuji Nagata in the fall of '09 as a babyface unit seeking truth, justice and the Japanese way. That means this is face vs face across the board, except perhaps young boy Okada. We can boo him. Okada does the mandatory Young Lion run to the ring on the team's entrance, leaving his escort behind. After both teams jaw at each other a bit Kanemoto's decides he's waited enough and attacks Inoue. Big forearm exchange. Kanemoto hits some kicks to get Inoue down and tags in Okada. What a good dad. Got the guy down for him. Inoue ducks a double clothesline but takes an Okada dropkick. Inoue hits a knee to the gut and tags out to Hirasawa. He and Okada slug it out, followed by another Okada dropkick. Hirasawa responds with a spear. Tags and now we have Liger in with SSM. Shoulderblock standoff. Liger puts SSM down with a sort of shotei. Corner clothesline and weak DDT from SSM, followed by a senton for 2. Hothead Okada runs in to try to break up a hammerlock, only putting Liger in more trouble. Liger running shotei on Hirasawa, follwed by a powerbomb for 2. Kanemoto tags in and blocks a Hirasawa spear. He goes for the ankle lock but SSM breaks it up. Diving clothesline and kip up from Okada. Everyone unloads on Inoue, capped off with an Okada shotgun dropkick off the top rope for 2. Inoue gets Okada over into a Fujiwara armbar. Kanemoto saves the kid. Okada hits what will become Everything is Evil for 2. Inoue flips Okada down, quickly followed up by an SSM senton and Hirasawa diving headbutt off the top for 2. Inoue then flips Okada over into another Fujiwara armbar. Okada's teammates try to save him again but can't get Inoue to break. They get drug into corners by SSM and Hirasawa and Okada has no choice but to tap out. Not a whole lot to that opener. Too many guys and too little time. It felt more like a Korakuen Hall multi man tag than a Tokyo Dome match. *1/2

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Apollo 55 (c) def Averno and Ultimo Guerrero in 9:07- Averno was a CMLL representative on last year's show, and this year he's bringing Guerrero with him instead of Mistico. Not a bad call, I thought Mistico was kind of sleepwalking through last year's match. Though Mistico did get a run with the junior title in the fall of '09 so I guess he did enough to impress someone. The Apollo 55 team of Ryuske Taguchi and Prince Devitt formed shortly after last year's Wrestle Kingdom. They defeated TNA team the Motor City Machine Guns in July to bring the belts back to New Japan and were in the middle of one of the longest reigns in the title's history. This is another face vs face matchup. The CMLL team comes out to We Will Rock You. Oh the rights fees. Apollo 55 are using Taguchi's music, which is 100% the right call. Taguchi's got a full on afro going. Guerrero and Taguchi start. A Guerrero waist takedown kicks off a nice mat sequence and stalemate. Guerrero tries a monkey flip out of a test of strength knucklelock leading to another indeterminate mat exchange. Both sides tag. Averno gets the takedown but Devitt holds his own on the mat. Long speed run with lots of dodging that ends with a Devitt armdrag. The champs hit a pair of Poetry in Motion style double teams. The Hardyz' influence on tag wrestling can't be overstated. Averno grabs Taguchi's arm and cranks him around for a faceplant. Taguchi and Guerrero exchange some chops. Guerrero drop toe hold and elbow drop for 2. Double powerbomb from the CMLL team. Straight sit out powerbomb from Averno for 2. They get Taguchi down in their corner and try to play to the crowd. Nothing doing there. Taguchi comes out of the corner with a flying headscissors on Averno and tags. Devitt comes in with a crossbody off the top on Guerrero. Pele kick for Averno. Devitt tope con hilo! Shotgun dropkick off the top on Guerrero for 2. Top rope fight and Guerrero plants Devitt for 2. Up top again and Guerrero hits a reverse superplex! Tagichi breaks the pin up. Things starts breaking down as Taguchi basement dropkicks Averno before getting put down by a Guerrero chop. Enzuguri from Devitt on Guerrero. Tag to Taguchi. Averno hits him with a cutter for 2. Taguchi tries a springboard hurricanrana but Averno blocks it for 2. Averno's shaking his knee off a lot, he seemed to tweak it after taking Devitt's tope con hilo. He gets Taguchi up and hits an avalanche Angel's Wings! Devitt just saves the pin. The champs get some double team momentum on both opponents. Springboard dropkick from Taguchi. Devitt hits the coupe de grace! Though I'm sure it wasn't called that yet. The champs wheelbarrow Averno up into a codebreaker, and that gets the pin! Perfectly fine but not a blowaway match. Not quite the style you'd expect either from the juniors or a match with lucha guys, which is an observation rather than a complaint. ***

 

Triple Threat Hardcore Match for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: No Limit def Team 3D (c) and Bad Intentions (CHAOS) in 13:28- Team 3D is making their third consecutive appearance at the Tokyo Dome. They won the tag titles on last year's show and took them to TNA, where they've stayed the entire last year with the former Dudleyz holding them most of that time. Former junior tag champs No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi) had just returned from an excursion to Mexico. This marks their first match back and their first match since moving up to the heavyweight division. The Bad Intentions team of Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson are the first representatives tonight from the new Shinsuke Nakamura led heel faction CHAOS, which was created when Toru Yano rebelled against Great Bash Heel leader Togi Makabe with Nakamura's help. I think No Limit lost a hair vs hair or mask match on their way out of CMLL because they come into this match with buzzcuts. Seeing Naito with a buzzcut.....I thought seeing Ishii WITH hair was freaky. This is like ten times that. Naito is still a LONG way away from becoming LIJ Naito, but he's already doing the open eye pose. Yujiro also already has a Tokyo Pimps shirt on. Devon looks like he's actually shed some weight and bulked back up a bit since last year's show. As soon as T3D hit the ring they attack and the big brawl is on. T3D have Naito down in one corner while Bad Intentions have Yujiro down in another. Pretty clear who the targets are. Ray and Bernard back into each other in the ring, but we don't see the follow up immediately as the cameras are focused on fighting on the floor. Finally we cut back to the two big guys locking up. Big shoulderblock standoff. Bernard shouts "COME ON MOTHERFUCKER! GO!". Another big hit with no one moving. Before anything else can happen No Limit jump in and attack them. Ray and Bernard fight them off, then T3D start working on Bernard. Until Bernard double lariatos them both down. Naito runs in and chops Bernard to absolutely zero effect. Dodge in the corner from Naito. No Limit hit a Poetry in Motion dropkick. Yujiro lariatos Bernard 360 to the floor! No Limit lift Anderson up and hot shot him on the top rope. Devon comes in with a kendo stick and waffles Naito with it! Kendo shot for Yujiro. Ray starts tossing all kinds of toys in. How did a US 83 street sign end up in Tokyo? Double freaky for me because part of US 83 runs not too far from where I live. In fact I always hop on 83 to drive up to Abilene whenever I go there. Cookie sheet shot for Yujiro. Ray has a cheese grater! Ref Tiger Hattori tries to stop it, but Ray rakes Naito across the forehead with it! Naito was already bleeding a bit, that'll just make it worse. Yujiro gets slammed on a ladder. Anderson tosses Ray a chair and kicks it into him! Devon tries to Cactus lariato Anderson but has a hard time getting himself over. Bernard and Ray are in the ring alone again. And now they have toys. Both guys pick up chairs. Chair sword fight! Ray loses his chair and begs off, then kicks Bernard. Full on slugfest. Naito comes in with a trash can. Yujiro hits Bernard in the head with the cookie sheet to absolutely zero effect! Fantastic. Then Naito hits Ray with the trash can again getting nowhere. Bernard no sells another cookie sheet shot. Ray ASKS for another trash can shot.  Naito leaps up and puts everything into it, but still nothing. Lariatos from Bernard and Ray put No Limit down again. Ray and Bernard handshake....then double lariato each other! Anderson and Devon run in and both cover for 2. Meanwhile No Limit has gone up to the top rope. Stereo crossbodys for 2. Ray gets the US 83 sign and nails everyone with it! T3D double suplex on Bernard. Bernard takes the Whazzup Drop. Get the tables time. Wow, that's getting booed in the Dome now. I guess T3D holding the tag titles hostage in TNA for a whole year hasn't gone over well with the home Japanese crowd. Anderson gets the classic Dudley powerbomb through a table to initially a small pop, but then more boos as Ray poses. Naito then also goes through a table. A third table is set up. Anderson double lariatos T3D down. Yujiro tries to attack Bernard but gets tossed out again. Bernard has a table set up on the floor. He sets Yujiro up on it. Bernard goes up to the second rope. Big splash on Yujiro through the table! That's it, Yujiro's dead. When Bernard gets back in the ring Ray nails him with a "watch opposing traffic" sign. He wasn't watching. Devon tries to lift Bernard up for the table powerbomb but can't. Bernard low blow on Ray! He chokeslams Devon through the table! Devon just kicks out of a cover at 2. Bernard kicks the cookie sheet into Ray's face for 2. Naito low blow on Bernard! Flying forearm on Bernard. Anderson gets shots in on Naito. Anderson spinebuster! Gun stun! Naito kicks out! 3D on Anderson! Bernard pulls Devon out of the cover! T3D attack him on the floor. Yujiro Alabama slams Anderson. No Limit double team neckbreaker finisher on Anderson! They get the pin and finally get the tag titles back in Japan! That was by far the best of the Dudleyz' trilogy of WK matches.They used the hardcore stip better and played well to what the Dudleyz could still do, especially the multiple Bernard/Ray standoffs. No Limit's experience from excursion also showed as they looked much more confident and polished than at last year's show. The biggest downside is the outcome was never in doubt no matter how hard they tried during the match because the entire build was focused around No Limit's return and there was no way the Dudleyz were getting out of Japan with the belts again. ***1/4

 

Masato Tanaka and Tajiri def Yuji Nagata and Akebono (Seigigun) in 9:37- Oh yay. They brought Akebono back in. I'm thrilled. He was mostly working for All Japan at this point, but Nagata made him an honorary member of Seigigun for this night. Tanaka and Nagata had an absolute war over the Pro Wrestling Zero1 World title on last year's show so getting them back together made sense. Tajiri was, of course, a star in the US early in his career before ever seriously working in his native Japan. After an initial run in ECW he became a staple of the WWE cruiserweight division during the famous Paul Heyman booked Smackdown Six era that actually took that division seriously. He was currently working as a freelancer among many different Japanese companies. Tanaka has Gedo and Jado with him on his entrance. Red Shoes check in early to ref this one, showing it was considered a major match. Tanaka and Nagata want at each other, but Tajiri backs Tanaka into the corner and talks him leting him start. Then Tajiri turns around and sees Akebono! Great reaction. Tajiri wants out but Tanaka says you're the one that wanted in, deal with it! Tajiri decides to superkick Nagata off the apron. That works, as Nagata is hot enough to tag in. Tanaka also tags in and we're off. Great stalemate exchange. Lockup into an arm wringer exchange and another reset. Test of strength. Nagata hits a belly to belly suplex for 2 and is upset that Tajiri broke the pin up. Nagata works a suplex attempt around into almost getting Nagata Lock 2 on but Tajiri breaks that up too. Nagata is not pleased, but stays on Tanaka. Running corner forearm from Tanaka. Tajiri tags in with a kick combo. He tries to arm wringer Nagata, but Nagata says nuts to that and quickly turns it around. Tajiri is one of those guys that always does all the little things right, throwing in those extra mannerisms to really put things over the top. That's what he's doing here. Nagata cranks away on his arm, then hits a couple of chest kicks. Tag to Akebono. He slams Tajiri then does the big man stand on him. "Running" avalanche from Akebono, followed by an elbow drop. He bear hugs Tajiri and drops him in his corner. Nagata tags back in with corner kicks. He hits a couple of forearms and almost asks Tajiri to fight back. Knees from Nagata. Tajiri comes off the ropes with the handspring elbow! Tag to Tanaka. Running forearm against the ropes on Nagata. He charges again, but into a Nagata exploder suplex! Rapid fire slugfest. Open hand slap from Nagata. Lariato from Tanaka. Nagata backdropeh! Tanaka is right back up with a sliding lariato! Running corner knee from Nagata. Both guys trade brain busters. Tajiri tags in but Nagata gets him right back down. Akebono comes in with another avalanche. Helluva kick/exploder combo from Nagata. Akebono big splash! Nagata covers but Tanaka breaks it up. The Seigigun team gives Tanaka a magic screw. Nagata gets the Nagata Lock on Tajiri but Tanaka quickly breaks it up before any eyes can be rolled back. Nagata kicks him back out to the floor. Jado trips Nagata and pulls him out to the floor. Akebono lifts Tajiri up but gets the green mist in the face! Lariato from Tanaka. Nagata gets back in and tries to backdropeh Tajiri but Gedo blocks it from the apron. Red Shoes does a crazy leaping kick to break it up! Where the hell did that come from? That might be the best move I've ever seen a ref do. Tajiri rolls out of the backdropeh. Green mist for Nagata! Sliding elbow from Tanaka. Tajiri hits the big head kick, and pins Nagata! Fun match and a surprising result. Fortunatley Akebono wasn't in it enough to drag it down too much. ***

 

Manabu Nakanishi, Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Terry Funk def Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Takashi Iizuka and Abdullah the Butcher (CHAOS) in 8:52- Mostly an all New Japan battle here between legends and CHAOS, joined by old men Funk and Abby. Funk is actually working his first match in about four years, presumably coming out of retirement again, while Abby was entering what would be the final year of his in-ring career. 2009 was a banner year for Nakanishi. Nearly 10 years after pulling off the biggest upset win in G1 Climax history but doing nothing of note since he finally won the IWGP Heavyweight championship, defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in May. He lost it back to Tanahashi barely a month later at the first ever Dominion, which would later become New Japan's second biggest annual single show, and would never see it again, but he could finally check that off his career resume. Abby seems to have difficulty just walking to the ring and really should have hung it up ages ago without even getting into the hep C concerns. Funk wants to start with Abby but the heel team doesn't want to let him loose. Yano starts instead. After the lockup Yano feigns a clean break but then hits a chop. Twice. The third time Funk ducks and hits his own chop. Tag to Choshu. He shoulderblocks Yano down. Snap mare from Choshu and he beats on Yano some more, then finally realizes Chono's been perched on the top rope forever waiting for him. Choshu holds Yano and Chono hits the tackle off the top. Funk tags in and hits a DDT for 2. Yano eye gouges Nakanishi to get him in the heel corner. Ishii hits some chops, then holds Nakanishi for Abby to give him a thrust to the throat from the apron. Nakanishi absorbs more Ishii chops and hits a headbutt. Ishii ends up in the wrong corner. He fights out and hits Chono with a powerslam. Chono gets an inverted atomic drop. Iizuka takes some shots in the face corner. Abby slowwwwwwwwwwly works his way into the ring. Funk goes for a figure four on Iizuka. Abby puts him down with a throat shot. More shots from Abby before Funk slugs back. Funk tries to headbutt Abby but only hurts himself. That was as close to classic Funk wobblelegged selling as he can get anymore. Everything breaks down and Abby accidentally hits Iizuka. Iizuka attacks Abby! Ishii and Yano try to hold him back. Choshu lariato on Yano! Chono shining wizardo! Another one on Ishii. Choshu gets the Scorpion Death Lock on Yano but Iizuka breaks it up. Nakanishi swings double ax handles on everyone and covers Iizuka, but Yano pulls Tiger Hattori out at 2. Iizuka has the iron fingers! He nails Nakanishi with them. Funk comes in and slugs Iizuka and Ishii down. Funk has the iron fingers! He gives them to Abby and tells him to hit Iizuka! Abby does! Yano protests and gets them too! Elbow drop from Abby. Nakanishi gets Iizuka in the torture rack and Iizuka submits. Pretty big mess with too many guys past their sell by date in there (Abby had no business being anywhere near a ring anymore), but the story of Abby turning on his evil teammates was decent. 3/4*

 

Togi Makabe def Muhammad Yone in 5:39- Every match left on the card is NJPW vs NOAH. Makabe had been enjoying a fresh babyface run after being betrayed by Yano and Nakamura, including picking up his one and only G1 Climax win in '09. He got a shot at the Heavyweight title soon after that, which had just been vacated due to a Tanahashi injury, but was again defeated by Nakamura. Yone is a career NOAH midcarder, the one guy on this show I honestly knew nothing about going in. Yone charges up the ramp during Makabe's entrance. Makabe sees him coming and wraps his chain around his arm. Yone ducks a chain lariato, scoops Makabe's chain up, and hits Makabe with it. He brings Makabe into the ring and we're on officially. Suplex from Yone. PK to Makabe's back and he soaks up a ton of boos from the New Japan crowd. Makabe no sells more kicks. Powerslam from Makabe. Shoulderblock and lariatos. Corner lariato. Mounted punches. Northern lights suplex for 2. Yone blocks a German suplex. He beats Makabe to the lariato punch and gives him a kick right in the back of the head. Corner lariato and kick from Yone. Setup slam. Legdrop off the second rope for 2. More kicks from Yone. Backdropeh for 2. Legdrop off the top rope to the back of Makabe's head for another 2. Makabe ducks a swing, plants Yone with a German and hits a lariato. Both guys fire up and it's forearm slugging time. Yone runs into a swinging double ax handle. Makabe puts Yone up top and hits the avalanche German. King Kong Kneedrop and it's over. Eh. They did OK for the time they got. Can't say I was overly impressed with my first taste of Yone, and Makabe was always a low ceiling guy. **

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Naomichi Marufuji def Tiger Mask (c) in 14:14- Marfuji is one of the great legends of NOAH, making his first appearance in the Dome for New Japan. He won the 5th Super J Cup in December to get this shot. The junior title belt modeled after the v4 Heavyweight title belt is making its Dome debut tonight. Ironically that belt is still in use today years after the v4 was retired in favor of the World Heavyweight title. Red and gold trimmed in black was definitely the gear memo for this match as that's what both guys are wearing. Cautious start. TM hits a quick kick. Both guys try some arm wringers and both do some flippydo escapes. Headlock into a speed run. TM gets a monkey flip. Marfuji dodges a wild dive but runs into a tiltawhirl backbreaker. He rolls out to the floor. TM teases a dive but stops halfway. Back in Marfuji tries to work a cravat. He snap mares TM over and does a double stomp right on his head, followed by a neck crank. Marfuji drapes TM over the middle rope and goes to the floor. Drive by! Back in Marfuji puts on a cobra clutch. TM fights free, both guys try some rope misdirection, and TM hits a back kick to the gut. He wraps Marfuji up in a modified figure four. Marfuji sits up so he adds on a guillotine before cranking on the legs some more. In the corner TM dodges a kick but Marfuji grabs him with his legs in a headlock and drives TM's head right into the corner pad. Running corner elbow. More crazy rope maneuvering and Marfuji hits a lariato. Curb stomp from Marfuji! Superkick follow up for 2. Standing superkick. Sliced bread! TM kicks out! TM gets a knee to the gut and kick to put Marfuji back down. He goes up top but Marfuji dropkicks him off! Springboard basement dropkick from Marfuji that puts TM on the floor. He gears up and goes for a Fosbury flop. TM kicks him in midair right in the knee! Almost thought that got the nads more than the knee there. They trade shots in the floor while the count goes on. Both stagger up and get back in at 18. Weak brain buster from TM for 2. He hooks up for the tiger suplex. Marfuji counters that and goes for sliced bread again. TM sees it coming and blocks, putting Marfuji on the top rope. Marfuji back elbows TM back down. A TM kick wobbles Marfuji. TM hooks up and hits essentially a Pedigree off the top rope! A reverse Pepsi Plunge. From the camera angle Marfuji damn near fell on his head too. TM stacks up but Marfuji JUST BARELY kicks out. Another tiger suplex attempt. Marfuji flips through, tries a counter, but TM grabs him again and hits it for another long 2. Head kick from TM. Standing moonsault for 2. Kimura lock! TM gives up on that, tries another double underhook that gets countered, then works around and gives Marfuji a reverse exploder. TM says that's it. He tries to wrap up the tiger suplex with the arm trapped. Marfuji counters out and waffles TM with a kick combo in the corner. They go up top. MARFUJI SPANISH FLY! We see that all the time today but that was mind blowing new back then. TM kicks out! It also never ever gets a pin ever. Less than the blue thunder bomb. TM counters out of a suplex but Marfuji instantly transitions to hit a superkick. Tiger Flowsion! Marfuji gets the pin and wins the title! Respect handshake and hug after the bell. Very good stuff, but to me missing that just little bit extra to get it to the next level. Marfuji would keep the title until June, losing it to Prince Devitt for the first of his three record setting reigns. ***3/4

 

Hiroshi Tanahashi def Go Shiozaki in 19:04- After taking the Heavyweight title back from Nakanishi for his fourth reign Tanahashi was forced to vacate it in August due to a fractured orbital bone. Being Tanahashi he only missed a couple of months, but he was still trying to climb back into the title picture. Shiozaki was a NOAH original that had developed into one of their top stars since his debut in 2004. He had just dropped the GHC Heavyweight title in December, the end of the first of what would be many reigns. Lockup and mostly clean break. Shiozaki looked like he wanted to mess with Tanahashi's hair a bit. No one messes with Tanahashi's hair. Extended mat exchange controlled by the larger Shiozaki. Tanahashi backs him up for a rope break and does a little return hair mussing. Tanahashi tries to straight power out of a headlock but can't. Eventually he gut punches out into a hammerlock, then his own headlock. Shoulderblock stalemate. Both guys exchange armdrags. Tanahashi doesn't roll over right on the one he takes and almost lands on his head. Test of strength knucklelock. Again Shiozaki shows the superior strength. Tanahashi fights back up and turns it into a northern lights suplex. Shiozaki comes back up with a big chop. He chops Tanahashi against the ropes and Tanahashi flips over 360 to the floor! Another big chop on the floor. Shiozaki hits a DDT on the floor, then slingshots Tanahashi into the post! He puts Tanahashi on the apron and hits a running knee. He tries for another one on the apron. Tanahashi blocks it! He's likely looking for the in ropes dragon screw but Shiozaki fights it off. Basement dropkick to the knee from Tanahashi. He hits a regular dragon screw in the ring. Tanahashi starts picking the knee apart, absorbing more chops to do so. Dropkick to the knee in the ropes. After some forced breaks Tanahashi has some questions for Red Shoes. When he turns back around Shiozaki hot shots him into the corner pad. Tackle from Shiozaki. More chops. Tanahashi blocks and kicks the knee. Running forearms from Shiozaki. Superkick. Fisherman's buster for 2. Running chops in the corner. Tanahashi tries to fire back with forearms but more chops wobble him. Shiozaki switches to a straight beatdown in the corner, then hits a running knee. Tanahashi dodges a kneedrop off the second rope. Punch combo from Tanahashi. Flying forearm for 2. Shiozaki fights out of a German attempt but Tanahashi ducks down and chop blocks his knee. He goes for the slingblade but gets cut off with chops. On the third try he ducks the chop, but Shiozaki grabs him and hits a German! Great scouting. Another superkick. Shiozaki hits the ropes, but runs into the slingblade finally hitting! Forearm slugfest time. They go nose to nose. Tanahashi staggers Shiozaki with a combo. He double underhooks, fights, and hits a suplex. Another slingblade. A third. Tanahashi goes up top. High Fly Flow into Shiozaki's waiting knees! But that tweaked the knee Tanahashi's been working on too and Shiozaki can't follow up. Shiozaki goes to the second rope. Tanahashi grabs his leg. Shiozaki fights him off with chops to the back of the head. Big open hand slap from Tanahashi and he goes up. More fighting. Shiozaki lifts Tanahashi up and slams him back down. I'm not sure that came off exactly like they planned but commentary is REALLY excited about it. Shiozaki mounts Tanahashi for 2. Big chop combo to Tanahashi's head for 2. Lariato from Shiozaki for 2. Setup slam. Shiozaki moonsault! Man that was a beautiful one. Tanahashi kicks out! Suplex fight. Tanahashi fights free. He tries for a dragon suplex. Shiozaki fights that, but Tanahashi wraps up a straitjacket German for 2! The play by play guy on commentary sounds like his voice is going and we're still two matches from the end. Another big forearm slugfest. Tanahashi mixes in some European uppercuts. He ducks a chop but eats another one on the rebound. Short lariato from Shiozaki! Tanahashi JUST kicks out! What there is of the Tokyo Dome crowd (attendance was still recovering from Inokism) is eating up every drop of this now. Another suplex hook up from Shiozaki. Tanahashi tries for a small package counter, but Shiozaki rolls through that and deadlifts him up! Tanahashi counters in midair into a dragon suplex for 2! Slingblade! Dropkick to the knee. Michinoku driver for 2. Tanahashi goes up top again. High Fly Flow to a seated Shiozaki hits! Up again. HIGH FLY FLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Tanahashi gets the pin! Afterward there's no handshake but a definite respect moment. Absolutely fantastic match that felt every bit a main event. Shiozaki looked amazing loss or no, while Tanahashi is really starting to look like The Ace. Despite the big win here 2010 wouldn't go as well as Tanahashi hoped. It'd still be another year before he got the Heavyweight title back. ****1/2

 

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Takashi Sugiura (c) def Hirooki Goto in 20:54- As mentioned, Sugiura won the title from Shiozaki in December. It's also his first reign, but one that would end up lasting a year and a half. He acquitted himself very well at last year's WK, absolutely killing it with Nakamura in the stretch run of their tag match. This is an interesting spot for Goto after a fairly unimpressive 2009 and not being able to follow up much on his upset G1 Climax win in '08. Though following the events of The New Beginning in Osaka 2025 I suppose I should retire all my "Goto can't win the big one" jokes. I suspect part of the deal with NOAH was to have their title match as the semi-main, and New Japan probably (and rightly) didn't want Tanahashi losing on this show while he was still climbing back up the ladder post-injury. This is treated fully like a NOAH match in a New Japan ring. NOAH ring announcer, NOAH ref, the whole nine yards. Sugiura tries a cheap shot on the lockup rope break but Goto ducks it. Going the other way Goto slaps Sugiura on a rope break! Both guys start throwing hands. Goto gets an arm takedown but then lets go, almost as if it's a message that he can do it. Sugiura uses standing switches to work into an armbar. Goto counters that with a single leg takedown. Speed run and shoulderblock standoffs. Goto gets a quick kick, snap mare and kick to the back. Sugiura responds with the same sequence but with a lot more kicks. A Sugirua big boot sends Goto 360 over the top to the floor. Sugiura suplex drops Goto gut first on the guardrail. NOAH's ring announcer doesn't seem as interested in selling the count as much as New Japan's guys do. Back in Sugiura tries to keep Goto grounded. He hits some chest kicks that fire Goto up. Big forearm exchange. Goto runs into another big boot. Sugiura shows zero respect by sitting right on Goto's chest to try to pin him. Big suplex leverage fight in the middle of the ring. Sugiura wins it and tosses Goto down face first. He hits a couple of running big boots in the corner. Goto responds with a corner lariato on the other side. Elbow off the top rope for 2. Misdirection runs and Goto hits a big lariato. German suplex for 2. Sugiura switches direction to hit another big boot. He deadlift gutwrenches Goto up and tosses him. Goto blocks a superplex and drops Sugiura down. Sugiura pops back up. Top rope hurricanrana! Man, didn't think he had a move like that in him. Goto is right back up! Corner lariato to the back of the head! Goto puts Sugiura on the top rope, then drops him with a hangman's neckbreaker on the apron! Nice. Nasty and nice. Also, Hardest Part of the Ring TM. Sugiura just manages to stagger back in the ring at 19. Goto hits another elbow off the top rope to Sugiura's back. After a ref check to make sure he's still alive after that neckbreaker Goto covers for 2. Lariato for ONE. Lariato to the back of the head! That gets 2. Sugiura slips out of a suplex attempt. Goto escapes an Olympic slam attempt. Double lariato with neither guy moving. Both guys try to murder each other with lariatos. Goto wins and covers for a long 2. Backdropeh from Goto for 2. Goto hits shouten! Sugiura kicks out! He goes for another one. Sugiura tries to counter into a German. Goto fights it, but that only allows Sugiura to German him into the corner pad! Nasty. Running corner knee from Sugiura. Another one. No, Goto blocked it! He lifts Sugiura up, setting off a chain of counters that ends with Sugiura holding an ankle lock! Goto quickly gets to the ropes. Another Suigura German. He rolls over and hits a dragon suplex! Goto just kicks out. Goto fights off another Olympic slam. He manages to get Sugiura around into an armbar! He cranks back on Sugiura's arm almost ZSJ style. Sugiura slowly fights over and manages to get a rope break. Kicks to the chest and arm from Goto. They start throwing haymakers again. HUGE open hand slaps to the face! Sugiura gets Goto wobbled. Goto comes back with a headbutt! Goto hits the ropes but runs into a German! Goto gets right back up so Sugiura spears him, then rolls the ankle lock back on. Open hand slap from Goto to get free and here we go again. Shot after shot after shot after shot. Goto goes down again. The Olympic slam hits! Goto is out at ONE! Sugiura has some words and nails Goto with a knee to the face. Kickout at 2. The ankle lock is back on. Sugiura pulls Goto into the center and gets the grapevine on! Goto tries to fight but there's nothing more he can do and he has to give it up. What beautiful violence. The crowd was red hot for the whole thing too. Back to back main event worthy matches before the main event. Pressure's on, last guys out. ****1/2

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) (CHAOS) def Yoshihiro Takayama in 15:51- After pulling off a massive heel turn in the spring, and completely destroying GBH to form CHAOS in the process, Nakamura won the vacant title in September following Tanahashi's injury to begin his third reign, once again defeating Makabe. This is one of those "twice in a lifetime" dream match deals. These two faced each other in the main event of the 2004 Dome show, when it was still under the Wrestling World name, in as close to a dream match main event as you could get with Nakamura barely two years into his wrestling career. That match was also a title vs title match for both the IWGP and NWF Heavyweight titles. Nakamura took the win in that match, immediately retiring the NWF title afterward. As revenge for that, Takayama has promised to retire the IWGP Heavyweight title should he win here. Takayama was a shoot style legend and a close friend of Minoru Suzuki, though Takayama stayed more in pro wrestling circles and did less MMA than Suzuki. Incidentally, this is also Nakamura's 5th main event in the 1/4 Dome shows, a new record for the time, breaking a tie he held with Keiji Mutoh/Great Muta. With the start of CHAOS Nakamura is also starting to transition into his King of Strong Style look. He's got the pants and the wristbands. The half shaved head, armband and mannerisms are still to come. Big cross ring staredown after the bell. Neither guy is in a hurry. They cautiously start to feel each other out. Nakamura hits a kick and Takayama literally brushes it off. More kicks. Takayama responds with his own kicks that get Nakamura down. Nakamura tries a duck under waistlock. Takayama fights it but Nakamura gets a takedown. Takayama uses his size advantage to fight back up and lifts a leg to put Nakamura down. Cautious reset. Takayama pushes Nakamura into the ropes, teases a clean break, then forearms him. Nakamura fires back and we start trading forearms with Takayama's seeming to land better. He puts Nakamura down with a clubbing blow to the back and stomps him. A suplex leverage fight goes nowhere so Nakamura tries to work an arm hold. Takayama gets him against the ropes and pummels him. Big knees to Nakamura's chest. A sliding dropkick puts Nakamura on the apron. Takayama goes to the floor and lays in a bunch more knees. Nakamura dangles on the apron with only a foot inadvertantly hooked on the bottom rope to hold him up, then when that comes loose he collapses to the floor. Fantastic. Takayama lays in his own unofficial count. Back in Takayama snap mares into a sleeper, then elbows Nakamura right on the nose. More elbow drops. Legdrop for 2. More forearms. Nakamura gets hung in the tree of woe. Running knee to Nakamura's gut. Basement dropkick and Nakamura falls free. Takayama and Red Shoes seem to have an argument about something. Takayama decides to hook a sleeper back on. Nakamura blocks it with his hands so Takayama hits another knee against the ropes. He goes for another one but Nakamura catches his leg and starts to fire back. He hits the ropes but runs into another knee to the gut for 2. PK from Takayama for 2. He goes for a backdropeh but Nakamura counters with a knee to the head. Running leaping knee from Nakamura. He starts laying in some kicks. Single leg dropkick and Nakamura's fired up. The crowd's pretty with him in this interpromotional match despite his heel status. Nakamura starts laying in his classic measured knees to the gut. Nakamura tries a German, Takayama fights it, Nakamura hits a knee and gets him over! Takayama hits some back elbows. Nakamura ducks a swing and tries to spin into the cross armbreaker! Takayama locks his hands to block it. Nakamura elbows his hands apart and gets it fully on! Takayama uses his long legs to get a rope break. More Nakamura kicks focused on the arm. Takayama grabs one and kills him with another knee. Backdropeh from Takayama. Running corner knee into a double underhook suplex and now Takayama has a cross armbreaker on! Nakamura fights and manages to get a foot to a rope. Takayama just plain pummels Nakamura with knees against the ropes. The last one flush on the jaw. He lifts Nakamura on the apron, hooks up a dragon suplex, and suplexes Nakamura over the top back in the ring with it! Cover for 2. Takayama German for 2. Nakamura uses that to try to get the armbreaker back on! Takayama fights free. Nakamura runs into knee right on the jaw! That's a potential knockout blow and Red Shoes is right there. Nakamura isn't moving so Red Shoes starts a KO count. Nakamura staggers up at 8 and hits a knee to Takayama's gut. Bomaye to the back of Takayama's head! Now we get a double KO count. Nakamura's up first. He puts a sleeper on. Takayama backs him into the corner. Nakamura swings around and waffles him with a forearm. Straight right hand punch from Takayama! They're trading right hand punches! Unheard of in Japan. Punches, headbutts, kicks. They're unloading everything they've got left in the tool box. Nakamura hits his leaping double kick. BOMAYE! Takayama is still up! He tries to block another one, but Nakamura hits it on the second attempt! Another full bomaye! Nakamura covers and gets the pin to retain! They had a lot to follow the last two matches, but by God they damn near got there. That was another physical war with the crowd remaining as hot as they had been the last two matches, and perfecly Tokyo Dome main event worthy. ****1/4

 

As soon as the bell rings Nakanishi gets in the ring and bumps chests with Nakamura. Guess he's calling next. Nakamura and Takayama then hug it out and Takayama raises Nakamura's hand. Exactly how a battle like that should end. Once again it's young boy Okada on trophy and belt snapping duty.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is easily the best Wrestle Kingdom yet in terms of pure in ring quality,. The undercard was hit and miss, but the final stretch was insane and worthy of the coming peak Wrestle Kingdom years. The downside, as I also went into on last year's show, is these interpromotional matches just don't mean as much in the long run as a straight New Japan show would. WK won't get to the next level until New Japan realizes their roster can, and needs to, carry this show mostly on their own. As great as the matches on this show are, it's the Nakamura/Tanahashi main event at WK 2 that still stands out as THE WK match so far, largely because it's way more important historically.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+